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Reconsidering Religion RECONSIDERING RELIGION: TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS By MALILA N. ROBINSON A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Education Written under the direction of Catherine A. Lugg and approved by ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Title RECONSIDERING RELIGION: TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS By Malila N. Robinson Dissertation Director: Catherine A. Lugg This dissertation analyzed the legal and policy issues involved with teaching about religion in U.S. public schools as part of a multicultural curriculum. U.S. public schools are government entities, and thus, the people who work within the public education system are bound by U.S. laws, policies, regulations and court rulings relating to schools. This dissertation used federal and lower court rulings dealing with Constitutional demands for the separation of church and state and the resulting public school policies and practices to highlight the difficulties many school teachers and administrators have attempting to sift through dense and often vague or contradictory legal dicta contained therein. Additionally, this dissertation combined legal, religious and socio-political theories to create a new theoretical framework, Critical Religious Legal Theory, which was then used to analyze the structures that shape educational law and policy in the realm of teaching about religion in public schools. The analysis focused on critically analyzing the laws and policies dealing with religion and public schools as social phenomena and as tools of control, and the education law and policy makers in the context of the social and political atmosphere at the time that the laws/policies were created. This dissertation also critically analyzed the generally accepted Christian norms in public education and America’s reliance upon ceremonial deism, as it relates to public schools. And this research explained how religion has been used as a tool of ii control and how and why religion can and should be demystified through the use of multicultural curricula that are inclusive of religion to (amongst other things) promote secular “moral truths” in character education like goodness, justice, love, truth while dispelling the religious stereotypes and prejudices that have been promulgated. The research generated by this dissertation, along with the pre-existing body of research on the intersection of religion and public schools, can be used by researchers, administrators and educators to expand the curricula in public schools to include courses where religion is discussed, in a constitutionally permissible manner, to inoculate against the ignorance behind many religiously motivated hate crimes. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my Dissertation Advisor, Dr. Catherine A. Lugg for her tireless assistance, her unbelievable patience and her gentle prodding over the many, many years of my dissertation journey. And I would like to thank the rest of my dissertation committee Dr. William Firestone, Dr. Clark Chinn and Dr. Laurence Parker, whose questions and suggestions challenged me to view my research from a variety of perspectives which added depth and coherence to my final product. I would also like to thank Professor Gary L. Francione, Esq., my mentor from Rutgers School of Law, who taught me how to think critically, question intelligently and ponder deeply. And of course I would like to thank my family: My patient husband Todd, who puts up with my obsession for learning and my addiction to school, and who was always on hand to solve technology related issues over the years. My two, soon to be three, adorable children (Zahra, Desmond & Liana), who probably think that that my laptop is part of my body. My 7 precious puppies who happily gave me kisses whenever I was feeling stressed; with a special thanks to Marilyn my night time dissertation puppy who stayed up with me into the early hours of the morning for several months as I tried to get some work done while everyone else was sleeping. My parents for finally ceasing their “Are you done with your dissertation yet?” questions after about 5 or 6 years, and for pretending to be interested when I described what I was researching for so long. My Nana for never ending love: Naturally. To my late Grandad, one of these days I will be as wonderful as he always thought I was, and I greatly appreciate that he set the bar so high! To my Gamma Fam for a continuous supply of comfort, laughs and hugs …and alcohol. To John for writing wonderful poetry and keeping my creative spark alive. To Jay, my best friend, an ocean away but never far from my heart. And to all of my other friends iv and family, too numerous to name, who have continued to love and support me even though they have barely seen my face (offline) in several years. v Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1-30 Background 1 Multicultural Education 4 Religion and Public Schools 7 The Research Question 18 Methodology 18 Sources 20 Theoretical Framework 21 Chapter Breakdown 26 Research Limitations 27 Concluding Remarks 29 CHAPTER TWO: Religion and Public Schools 31-95 Background 31 Official Endorsement or Encouragement of Religion 34 Private Student Prayer 44 School Sponsored Prayer 45 The Pledge of Allegiance 57 Religious Meetings in Public Schools 91 Summary 94 CHAPTER THREE: Evolution, Creation and Intelligent Design 96-173 Introduction 96 The Debate about Teaching Evolution, Creationism & Intelligent Design in Public Schools 96 Legislative Efforts to Ban Evolution 101 Balanced Treatment 109 Evolution(ism) 126 Disclaimers 130 Summary 167 CHAPTER FOUR: Multicultural Education Inclusive of Religion 174-203 Background 174 Religion Defined 179 The Problem 181 Multicultural Curriculum Goals 184 Multicultural Religious Curriculum Goals 185 Multicultural Best Practices 189 vi Teacher Education in Religion 196 Teaching About Religion 199 Summary 201 CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusion 204-216 The Problems Continue 204 Critical Religious Legal Theory 212 Limitations and Significance 214 Concluding Remarks 215 References 217 List of Figures Figure 2.1 1982 Original Pledge of Allegiance 89 Figure 2.2 1920’s Amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance 89 Figure 2.3 1954 Amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance 90 Figure 4.1 U.S. Racial Demographics in 2000 176 Figure 4.2 U.S. Racial Demographics in 2010 176 Figure 4.3 U.S. Projected Racial Demographics for 2020 177 Figure 4.4 U.S. Projected Racial Demographics for 2050 177 Figure 4.5 U.S. Religious Breakdown 2012- General Categories 178 vii 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction Background This dissertation analyzed the legal and policy issues involved with teaching about religion in U.S. public schools as part of a multicultural curriculum. U.S. public schools are government entities, and thus, the people who work within the public education system are bound by U.S. laws, policies, regulations and court rulings relating to schools. This dissertation used federal and lower court rulings dealing with Constitutional demands for the separation of church and state and the resulting public school policies and practices to highlight the difficulties many school teachers and administrators have attempting to sift through dense and often vague or contradictory legal dicta contained therein. Additionally, this dissertation used legal, religious and socio-political theories to analyze the structures that shape educational policy in the realm of teaching about religion in public schools. Since America is, for the first time, no longer be a Protestant majority country (Pew, 2012), teaching about religion in public schools is necessary to increase students’ comprehension of the world’s major religions and to reduce incidents of religiously motivated hate crimes in school and in society at large. The U.S. Department of Justice (2012) reported in the congressionally mandated FBI hate crimes statistics, that there were a reported 1,318 incidents of hate crimes motivated by religious bias (down from 1,409 in 2010 but, up from 1,303 in 2009), and an additional 1,508 hate crimes motivated by an anti-queer bias1 (up from 1,202 in 2009 and 1,470 in 2010). Religion is a defining characteristic for many people and for some it is as 1 I have included the number of hate crimes based on a person’s sexuality (or perceived sexuality) because it is often the case that the perpetrators of the anti-gay incidents are motivated by a religious ideology (Herek, 2004). 2 defining as race or gender (Carter, 1993; Moore, 2007). There is an extensive body of knowledge on the necessity for schools to teach a multicultural curriculum that is inclusive of racial minorities and women (Anyon, 2005; Banks, 1995; Banks & Banks, 2007; DeCuir & Dixson, 2004; Maestri, 2005). Yet, unlike issues of race and gender, the topic of religion is often avoided by public school curricula (Moore, 2007; Lugg & Tabbaa-Rida, 2009). And when religion is included in the curriculum, it is frequently incorporated in an unconstitutional way (Edwards v. Aguillard, 1987; Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968; Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District et al., 2005). The United States is known for its cultural diversity. However, the U.S. is also one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world (Eck, 2001; Moore, 2007). According to a 2012 report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the current religious make-up of the US, from highest to lowest, is approximately: 48% Protestant, 22% Catholic, 14% Nothing in particular, 6% Other Faith, 4% Agnostic, 3% Atheist, 2% Mormon, 1% Orthodox. Despite this diversity many Americans lack any real understanding of the basic tenets of the world’s major religions (Moore, 2007).
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